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Kats-Chernin 'Night and Now' Concerto (2015-2021)
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Kats-Chernin “Night and Now” Concerto: Composer/performer collaboration resulting in a new creative work (2015 – 2021).
Through their long-standing collaborative partnership, Dr Sally Walker has commissioned and premiered many new works of composer Elena Kats-Chernin, the largest scale work being Night and Now Flute Concerto, premiered by the Darwin Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Matthew Wood and Walker as soloist in 2015. It has since been performed by Walker in Hamer Hall (Melbourne), The Concourse Chatswood (Sydney), Queensland Performing Arts Centre (Brisbane), Townsville Civic Theatre and Newcastle Town Hall. In 2016, a piano reduction of the orchestral part was made by the composer, and Walker premiered this at the 2016 Swedish Flute Festival and the 2017 Australian Flute Festival.
In 2021, Kats-Chernin made an arrangement of this concerto for flute and string quartet for the Omega Ensemble, commissioned with support by the Stanley Family. Flute Quintet ‘Night and Now’ for flute and string quartet (2021) had its world premiere at the Newcastle City Hall as part of the 2021 (inaugural) New Annual Festival, with Walker as soloist and further performances in the Melbourne Recital Centre and the Joan Sutherland Performing Arts Centre in Penrith.
It follows the traditional form in being in three movements and at the commissioning performer’s request, takes aspects of the Russian personality and character, as well as a timbral exploration of the flute. The composer wrote “The timbre and sonorities of the flute itself offer much variation to the composer. It can be brilliant, shrill and scurrying, or whispering and mellow. The flute can draw sharp or soft lines. It can be rich, or mystical, or virtuosic, penetrate a full sound or sigh into the texture.” As a result, the concerto begins slowly and in over-overlooked low register of the instrument.
The process of composition was highly interactive with numerous re-drafts, even after the premiere. “Sally often hears sketches of my work as I’m writing them and she has great insight into my processes…we discussed how to emphasise the flute’s unique sound and capabilities.” The first movement is reminiscent of the Russian Orthodox church, with a heavy emphasis on Tubular Bells. The second movement begins in a neo-baroque style with an articulated fugue. The cadenza featured modern techniques such as pitch bending and flutter-tonguing and eventually arrives in C minor for the Tarantella of the final movement.
This project received funding from the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body.
Walker, S. K. A., Shiell, M., Zelman Memorial Symphony Orchestra (2015) Night and Now Flute Concerto [Live Performance, World Premiere] in Darwin Symphony Orchestra’s Master Series: Night and Now. Darwin (Australia): Darwin Convention Centre.
Walker, S. K. A., Wood, M., Darwin Symphony Orchestra (2015) Night and Now Flute Concerto [Live Performance, World Premiere] in Darwin Symphony Orchestra’s Master Series: Night and Now. Darwin (Australia): Darwin Convention Centre.
Performances of this work
26 Mar 2021: at Omega Ensemble: Night and Now (Melbourne Recital Centre, Primrose Potter Salon). Featuring Omega Ensemble.
27 Feb 2021: at Omega Ensemble: Night and Now (Sydney Opera House, Utzon Room). Featuring Omega Ensemble.
26 Feb 2021: at Omega Ensemble: Night and Now (Joan Sutherland Performing Arts Centre). Featuring Omega Ensemble.
20 Feb 2021: at Omega Ensemble: Night and Now (Newcastle City Hall). Featuring Omega Ensemble.
26 May 2018: at Queensland Youth Symphony – Undercurrents (QPAC Concert Hall). Featuring John Curro, Queensland Youth Orchestra, Sally Walker.
28 Oct 2017: at Barrier Reef Orchestra Evening Serenade (Townsville Civic Theatre). Featuring Barrier Reef Orchestra, Mark Shiell, Sally Walker.
17 Sep 2017: at Babi Yar - Shostakovich, Sdraulig, Kats-Chernin (Hamer Hall, Arts Centre Melbourne). Featuring Mark Shiell, Sally Walker, Zelman Symphony Orchestra.
17 Sep 2016: at Newcastle Youth Orchestra: New Frontiers (Harold Lobb Concert Hall, Newcastle Conservatorium of Music). Featuring Sally Walker, Mark Shiell, Newcastle Youth Orchestra.
Night and now : for flute and orchestra, piano reduction [eScore] / Elena Kats-Chernin.
by Elena Kats-Chernin (2015)
Performances:
1 July 2017: (flute and piano version) at Australian Flute Festival (Queensland Conservatorium of Music Concert Hall, Griffith University, Brisbane). Featuring Sally Walker and Gabriella Pusner.
9 April 2016: (flute and piano version) at The Swedish Flute Festival. Featuring Sally Walker and Timothy Carey. Uppsala University Concert Hall, Uppsala, Sweden.
View Sally Walker's Researcher page.
